Meddling Kids
by I-Mushi
Summary: Tumblr prompt: I also have in mind a story with Jesse sneaking into her dad's affair and pushing him to invite Mercy on a date or something? ;)


Seriously, what was it with men? Jesse was all of seventeen and knew exactly why Mercy made that put-upon sigh sometimes when she encountered her dad in a stubborn mood. In fact, he'd even called her out on sounding like Mercy when she made the same noise.

But really! Anyone with _eyes_ knew that her dad had a thing for Mercy. A serious thing. She wasn't going to call it a hard-on or a crush like her friend Izzy because this was _her_ dad and he was an alpha werewolf _,_ not a teenage boy. Even if he had the guts of one sometimes.

At this point half the pack was suffering because of the UST between Mercy and her dad, even complaining about it where Jesse could hear (which meant her dad was at Mercy's trailer yelling/flirting with her, otherwise he'd blow a gasket). Something had to be done. And if none of the pack would do it, and Mercy was too oblivious to, then it was up to Jesse.

"Mercy speaking."

"Hey Mercy, it's Jesse."

"Oh hey Jesse, what's up? I didn't recognize the number."

"I'm at a friend's house. Can you check on dad? I've been calling him to get me but he hasn't picked up, and neither has Darryl. My phone's fritzing, otherwise I'd call someone else..."

"Sure, no problem." Mercy hung up and frowned at her phone. She supposed her number was in the phonebook, and that's how Jesse had found it, but she was still surprised to get the call. Then again, Adam was right over her back fence.

She headed outside and patted the junk Rabbit in her backyard with more affection than she gave most things, before hopping the fence into Adam's backyard. She sniffed cautiously as she approached the house, but there were no ominous scents or sounds and no signs of fighting or anything amiss. After all her recent encounters though, Mercy wasn't going to assume anything. If Adam wasn't doting on Jesse then she _knew_ something was wrong.

She didn't beeline for the door but cautiously peered through the back windows, but everything looked normal inside. She tried the back door and found it unlocked, so she stepped into the kitchen.

"Mercy?" Adam called from upstairs within moments of her entrance. She was surprised to find that he could recognize her from just a few steps and the sound of her breathing.

"Adam?"

He came down the stairs at a jog, staring at her expectedly. "What's wrong? Did something happen?" He appraised her in a quick glance that despite being entirely perfunctory still made Mercy's stomach do a funny flip. Did he have to be so stupidly pretty?

"Jesse called. Said you weren't answering your phone."

Adam frowned and pulled out his cell from his back pocket. Whatever it told him seemed to surprise him. "I don't have any missed calls."

"Huh. She seemed to think something was going on, since she couldn't reach Darryl either."

Adam called his second immediately and Darryl picked up on the first ring. "What's happening?"

"Phone check," Adam said shortly. He hung up and looked at Mercy. She looked back at him perplexed.

"Well, guess I'll, uh, go back to my trailer. You should pick up Jesse and find out what happened with her." It came out a bit awkward, and Mercy backed out of the house scratching her head. What was that about?

* * *

Okay, so giving her dad opportunities to talk alone with Mercy weren't working. Obviously it wasn't the pack that was stopping him, it was himself. If werewolves could get drunk she would have tried that, but she wasn't sure what would be worse: out of control wolves or how pissed her dad would be.

In the absence of liquid courage, Jesse opted for the next best thing: her own courage.

"Dad, you should talk to Mercy."

"About what?" he asked, looking confusedly up at her from his desk. He was hunched over the monthly budget and fretting still over how Peter had gotten a black eye in a fender bender that morning.

"You know what about! Invite her over for dinner. Talk to her."

"She's always welcome," he said, quirking his eyebrow at her. "And you know she wouldn't mind if you dropped by her. She likes you."

"Yes, and she likes you," Jesse replied, putting her hands on her hips.

Her dad snorted. "Sure, coyotes and wolves." He shook his head, dismissing her thoughts.

"I'll get Samuel out of the house for you."

His head jerked back up before he caught himself. Her dad never quite realized how his control slipped around his only daughter and how irritated he was that Samuel lived with Mercy.

"I'll get Samuel out of the house," she repeated. "Shouldn't be hard. A little girl talk, request for privacy..."

He made one of those wincing faces that scrunched up his nose. Her mother had gone on about the wrinkles it would cause when Jesse did the exact same thing, but she didn't care. "Mercy will listen, I'm sure, but Samuel's not important in this."

"When I come home from her place 'upset'," Jesse put air quotes around that, "go to Mercy's and talk to her. Get her to open up. You know you can do it."

For just a moment Jesse thought her father had caught on, and then she realized he _had_ and wasn't happy.

"Jesse, I don't—" he ran his hand through his hair in frustration. "I appreciate your concern and what you're trying to do, but when I called Mercy my mate before the pack it was a matter of her protection, not a, a—"

"Maybe not then but now, sure. She'd be open to it, I swear."

"If she'd told you that then she'd kill you for telling me," he pointed out, and Jesse's mouth clicked shut because, yeah, she wasn't a snitch. If Mercy had made her promise to keep her crush on her dad a secret she would have. But Mercy _hadn't_ and that was the whole point. Jesse got an earful—and even an eyeful sometimes—of what her mom got up to, while he dad played the monk and busied with the pack rather than himself. Mercy was tough, independent, but she knew how to reach out when she needed it. She'd called her dad before when she needed back up, didn't hesitate to call him out when he did something wrong, and was _still_ nice to the frustrating pack alpha's daughter who she owed nothing to.

God, maybe Jesse should talk to her instead. Mercy was as stubborn as her dad though, and might not listen to a teenager's opinion. Then again, her dad hadn't either.

Jesse went back to her room and thought about how her dad refused to push Mercy into anything, somehow managing to be the only person on the planet blind to how Mercy felt about him. She thought about Mercy too, and why she didn't press her dad more, perhaps out of fear of repeating the damage her mom had done, or out of a weird respect for the pack and the wolves. Either way, Jesse needed to make it clear to both parties that 1) the flirting and gooey eyes at each other when all the wolves were out of the room had to stop, because everyone was tired of it, and 2) coyote, werewolf, pack, Samuel, whatever, those were just excuses not to get together.

Before Jesse could find the time to get to Mercy's, kick Samuel out, and try to talk some sense into the walker, some crazy water fae attacked the house and Mercy in coyote form came careening though the brush, throwing a wrench into all her plans. Hurt, chased by a crazy, slimy horse monster, Mercy had never been more beautiful and more awesome at once—to both Hauptmans in the house. Just a few days later Jesse's dad shared the news that Warren would be having dinner at the house tonight with her: he had a date with Mercy.


End file.
